Maybe it's a provincial thing with Vancouver being so close, but there was a lot of interest in this year's Stanley Cup

I wrote that from Vancouver, B.C., after Canada's pulsating overtime victory over the United States in the gold medal-game game at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

But there was no joy in Canuckville after Wednesday's 4-0 loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Remember the pain after the Seahawks lost to the Steelers in Super Bowl XL? Multiply it times 10 and you probably have an idea of the mood on Granville and Robson streets last night. Vancouver fans were ready to party, ready to put the lovefest following the gold-medal victory to shame.

But Lord Stanley's Cup wound up in the hands of the damned Yanks once again.

Before you knew it, the mood turned ugly. Fans set fire to cars and garbage cans and tossed beer bottles at giant TV screens as violence ensued.

OK, there's some goons among the die-hard puckheads in Vancouver. You find 'em in every sport.

Losing a Game 7 has got to be tough to swallow for a country that invented the game and takes so much pride in the sport.

"This is our game," the Canadians kept reminding us during the Winter Olympics.

Not anymore.

You have to go back to 1993 to find a year in which an American NHL team didn't skate off with the championship.

While I sometimes mock those who follow the sport made famous in the frozen north, deep down I have learned to appreciate the fast-paced game. The things some of those guys do on skates are pretty remarkable. You'd be surprised how many folks in my workplace were paying attention to this year's finals.

Maybe it's a provincial thing? Vancouver's not that far away — maybe a 3-hour drive from Seattle — and the city's a lot like Seattle. We can relate to the climate, the people and the culture.

But would the Puget Sound region support a team of its own?

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters last month that the league has had discussions with an investment group representing Seattle.

"I would rather not get into specifics to be fair to that group, or the process," he said.

He did say: "You're always intrigued by rivalries."

It's hard to image the NHL turning its back on Seattle if the ownership was right — providing, of course, that a new arena would be part of the package.

A Seattle-Vancouver rivalry would be a shot in the arm for a league that had its marquee game of the season televised to this market on VERSUS and KONG.

The SuperSonics are long gone, and with nothing happening on the NBA front as far as bringing another franchise to Seattle, the timing seems right for the NHL.

I've seen how the hockey-mad folks just across the border embrace the game.